PENDING PUBLIC SECTOR layoffs have given even greater urgency to the appointment of eligible temporary teachers before the start of the new school year on January 6.
President of the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union (BSTU), Mary Redman, said yesterday that since 2008, the union had forwarded a list of all members who would have qualified for appointment following the proclamation of the Public Service Act, which came into effect on December 31, 2007.
“At the last meeting, on Friday, of the Social Partnership,” she said, “the BSTU again made the call in the face of discussions of projected or proposed terminations. I said that given all of that and the high cost of living, spiralling inflation, the fact that we are not getting salary increases, the fact that they are also proposing the freezing of increments – which by the way, I believe will have serious legal implications – you cannot have persons not being appointed.”
Both the BSTU and the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) have been agitating for the appointments, with the latter suggesting the number could exceed 300.
